


How the Other Side Lives

by JLSigman



Category: Devil May Cry, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-16
Updated: 2015-12-16
Packaged: 2018-05-07 00:12:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5436026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JLSigman/pseuds/JLSigman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Cat and Sephiroth are in a marriage of convenience</p>
            </blockquote>





	How the Other Side Lives

**Author's Note:**

> [Originally posted May 18, 2009](http://asylums.insanejournal.com/no_true_pair/103561.html) Cat is an OC of mine in the _Devil May Cry_ universe

There is a place where magic can be manipulated, where angels and demons fight with and live with and love with humans, taking sides in tribal and clan wars for sport, profit, or honor. While the people were not primitive most tended to keep things simple, roaming the world with their families and tribe-mates, conquering and being conquered as the Fates decided. A few others settled down where paths tread since ancient times met up and there sprang towns, cities, and castles that would attract raiders and trade in equal portions.

Out of the hundreds, if not thousands, of groups of people that lived on that world, two were considered the pinnacles of their respective societies. The Shinra clan had settled down to trade in the best places early on, and there wasn't a town or castle that they had not built. The Sparda clan traveled widely and freely, known for the fierceness of their warriors, the loudness of their parties, and their ability to enjoy every moment of life. It was only natural that the two groups would clash frequently, and for the past few generations it had become an endless cycle of battles.

Then the Calamity from Heaven met the Lord of the Underworld, and their combined forces quickly overran and enslaved half the planet. Despite all their differences, both the Shinra and Sparda clans realized that if they wanted to survive they would have to unite against their common foe.

They met outside of Shinra's oldest and largest city in order to negotiate and plan. At least, that had been Rufus's intent when he sent the messenger. Reno came back grinning from ear to ear about the plans the Sparda leader had for the festivities, most of which would cause quite a scandal to the more conservative city dwellers. “What did Dante have to say about arranging a marriage between our people?” Rufus asked.

“He said something about you'd have to work out the differences between what they consider marriage and what we consider marriage,” Reno answered.

Rufus did not think that was a good sign. He was only willing to concede so much, knowing how superior his forces, people, and culture were to the barbarians about to descend upon him. Still, he was fairly certain something could be worked out.

The day the leaders of the two groups met was warm, with a bright sun and a cool breeze ruffling the tops of the grasses. Dante came dressed in his usual reds, his son Nero in his usual blues. Three women warriors accompanied Dante, while Nero's new healer wife (recently spirited away from her home clan) took in the proceedings with wide-eyed wonder. It was the fact that Dante had three wives, or so it seemed to Rufus, as well as the fact that his son had all but kidnapped his own wife, that suddenly made Reno's comment about definitions of marriage all the more relevant. But that could wait until the end of the negotiations.

Which were not going as well as he would have liked. One of Dante's women, who called herself Lady, was doing the negotiating, and Rufus was so distracted by this turn of events (as well as planning to kill Reno for failing to mention this very important fact) that some concessions were made that he had not originally planned. Dante would lead his own troops, and not accept any kind of overseer, although he did welcome any troops who wanted to “tag along” with him. Dante also refused to discuss any kind of ban on raiding, as well as making it clear that if anything happened to him, the negotiations would have to be started all over from the beginning with his son.

Rufus was about to pull his hair out by the time they decided to pause for a meal. However, the casual atmosphere, as well as the chance to actually speak to Dante himself, seemed the perfect time to bring up the marriage issue. “Now, I believe my associate Reno mentioned the fact that it would be a good sign to both our peoples if we cemented this pact with a formal marriage between us.”

“Reno...” Dante mused. “Oh yeah, the red head. Great guy, really knows how to party. Where is he?”

“He, ah, had other duties.” Rufus tried not to see the disappointed look in the eyes of the busty blond just on the other side of Dante. “Now, about the arrangements we would need to make...”

The red-clad leader looked at the immaculately clad man with a grin in his eyes and on his lips. “Your guy tried to explain it to me, but really, one guy, one girl?” He waved his hands at the three who sat with him. “It's bad enough you don't have any women warriors, but then you limit them to one guy?”

Rufus wasn't sure how to explain inheritances and the importance of knowing who your sons were fathered by to a man who had few real possessions and who's genetics made it very obvious who could claim him in court for paternal rights. He was spared trying when Dante continued his side of the conversation. “I mean, I guess you'd want to marry Nero off to your daughter, right?”

Reno was dead five times over. “I don't have any children at the moment,” he admitted, which made Dante's eyebrows disappear into this white hair. He turned to gesture to his Wutian bodyguard, who nodded and left. “I was thinking it would be more symbolic if my best warrior married one of your best women.”

There was a moment of silence as Lady, the blond beside Dante, and the third woman who had been quiet up to this point looked at each other. The silence continued as Rufus's bodyguard returned with his best warrior, the Silver General himself, Sephiroth. Who looked as pleased with the prospect as the women he was now facing.

Dante looked at the general, then back to the women. “You're trying to get me killed, aren't you, Shinra?” he asked quietly, but without anger. In fact, Rufus noted, he still seemed amused with the whole situation. “So,” he said a bit louder, “who's my best woman?”

“Ah,” Rufus interjected, “It would probably be best if you chose your best female warrior, just to keep things even.” That earned a snort from someone, he couldn't tell who.

The youngest woman, who had too much orange-brown in her coloring to be fully human, sighed. “That would be me, at this point,” she said in resignation. She removed dark glasses from her face to reveal cat eyes of dark copper, which bore into Sephiroth's green cat eyes with a complex mix of emotions. Then she stood and walked over to Dante.

He looked up at her from his seated position. “You sure about this, Cat?” he asked, serious for the first time that day.

“I know we can't do this without them,” she said, bitter with a loss that remained unspoken. “Besides, when I come back...” She pushed his chin up with one clawed finger, and both ignored the small bit of blood. “I will make you beg for mercy, and the whole camp will hear it.”

Their lips came together in a fierce kiss that caught both Rufus and Sephiroth off-guard. “She... she is your wife?” Sephiroth asked after moistening suddenly dry lips.

The kiss finally ended, and Cat turned her attention back to the Shinra general. “We don't use terms like that,” she said as she walked towards him. Her stride was fluid, primal, and he understood her name much more than he had a second ago. “Sometimes, I choose to warm his bed. Sometimes, I warm Lady's. We are partners, mates, but we don't keep score.”

He looked down at her. She barely came to his chin, but her eyes were fierce enough to make up for the lack of height. He felt honesty would be the best policy here, her clan seemed to honor it. “I do not understand your ways, but I will try to honor them. You do not even have to share my bed if you do not wish it.”

“Oh, but I do,” she purred, and he had to fight to not make a fast retreat from the smoldering gleam in her eyes. “I plan to go through with this marriage thing your people want so badly, and then I will take you the way MY people do, so that all know we are together.”

Sephiroth looked up and over to Rufus with wide eyes, who looked sympathetic but shrugged. “We'll do all this tonight, then, so we can move out in the morning.”

Lady giggled, and Dante was obviously fighting back the urge to laugh. “We'll see who's able to move in the morning,” he finally managed to say with a leer at the couple. Cat grinned up at her groom, and all Sephiroth could do was sigh.


End file.
